HK financier Francis Leung joins CVC as adviser

(Reuters) - Leung, a long-time banker to Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing with close China ties, was with Citigroup Global Markets as chairman of Asia until last year focusing on developing Citigroup's Greater China investment banking business, CVC said.




CVC, which is a major shareholder in global motor racing business Formula 1, owns interest in Australia's media group PBL Media, Japan's restaurant chain Skylark, Singapore's precision metals stamping firm Amtek, Malaysia's largest paper packaging firm GS Paper and Packaging, and Chinese wood fibreboards maker Plantation Timber Products.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Canada's Dollar May Decline on Elliott Wave Charts, Forecast's Ng Predicts

(Bloomberg) -- Canada's dollar may fall to C$1.0759,
according to charts based on Elliott waves, said Pak Lai Ng, a
technical analyst at Forecast Singapore Ltd.

The level represents the Canadian currency's June 21 low
versus the U.S. dollar, Ng said. The currency has risen 10.8
percent since touching this year's low of C$1.1876 on Feb. 8.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

UPDATE 1-STATS ChipPAC quarterly profit falls

(Reuters) - The Singapore-based company posted a second-quarter net
profit of $7.4 million, or 4 cents per diluted American
Depositary Share , compared with a net profit of $18
million, or 9 cents per share, in the year-earlier quarter.




Revenue fell 12 percent to $370.2 million.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

UPDATE 1-Kelly Services Q2 earnings rise; cuts '07 EPS view

(Reuters) - The world's fifth-largest recruitment firm, which is
expanding in Japan, China, Hong Kong and Singapore, said it
planned to restructure its operation in the Americas, closing
about 40 commercial branches.




For the third quarter, it said it sees earnings from
continuing operations of 41 cents to 46 cents a share,
excluding planned restructuring costs of its UK and Americas
operations.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Thailand's Stocks Climb to 10-Year High Led by PTT; World's Biggest Mover

(Bloomberg) -- Thai stocks climbed, driving the key
index to the highest in more than 10 years, on speculation that
the cheapest valuations in Asia will draw more overseas investors
to the nation's equities.

``The market has done extremely well,'' said Hans Goetti,
Singapore-based managing director at Citi Private Bank, which has
assets of $100 billion in Asia. ``It has good value.''


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

KKR raises $600 mln in loans for Singapore's MMI buy-sources

(Reuters) - Singapore's DBS and several other European and
Asian banks also participated in the consortium, sources said.




A leveraged buyout involves the acquisition of another
company using a significant amount of borrowed money and using
the acquired firm's assets as collateral.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

U.S. Treasury Notes Rise as Moody's Ratings Cuts Feed Demand for Safety

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. 10-year Treasury notes rose
after Moody's Investors Service cut the ratings on $5.2 billion
of bonds backed by subprime mortgages, feeding demand for the
relative safety of government debt.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year note fell 2 basis points
to 5.01 percent as of 10:20 a.m. in Singapore, according to bond
broker Cantor Fitzgerald LP. The price of the 4 1/2 percent
security due in May 2017 rose 1/8, or $1.25 per $1,000 face
amount, to 96 2/32.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Alliance Bank Malaysia, Backed by Temasek, May Return Funds to Investors

(Bloomberg) -- Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd., with 6.57
billion ringgit ($1.9 billion) of cash on its balance sheet, may
return funds to investors after hiring BNP Paribas SA to assess
its capital needs.

The Kuala Lumpur-based bank, the closely held main division
of Malaysian Plantations Bhd., may also sell debt as part of the
review, Chief Executive Officer Bridget Lai said in an interview.
BNP's assessment should be completed next quarter, she said.
Temasek Holdings Pte, the Singapore state investment unit,
controls 15 percent of Malaysian Plantations.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Yellen Says Fed's 5.25 Percent Rate Will Encourage Growth, Slow Inflation

(Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
President Janet Yellen said keeping interest rates unchanged is
the best way to achieve faster growth and slower inflation in
the U.S. economy.

``The virtues of this path are that it avoids exposing the
economy to unnecessary risk of a downturn while, at the same
time, it is likely to produce enough slack in goods and labor
markets to relieve inflationary pressures,'' Yellen said in a
speech via satellite to a conference in Singapore.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Treasuries Set for Biggest Weekly Drop in Month as U.S. Companies Add Jobs

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. Treasuries are headed for the
biggest weekly decline in a month before a government report
that economists forecast will show jobs growth is strong enough
to keep the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates.

Benchmark 10-year yields traded near the highest in two
weeks after private reports yesterday showed U.S. employment
gained and growth in services quickened. Economic indicators
have been ``robust,'' including ``steadily'' increasing
payrolls, Janet Yellen, head of the Fed Bank of San Francisco,
said in a speech via satellite to a conference in Singapore.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

UPDATE 2-Territory gets funding for Consolidated counterbid

(Reuters) - SYDNEY, July 4 - Australia's Territory Resources
Ltd. said on Wednesday it has locked in A$200 million
to help fund a A$700 million-plus counterbid for
bigger miner Consolidated Minerals Ltd. .




Territory said Singapore commodities trader Noble Group
and DCM DECOmetal of Austria had confirmed they will
provide the funds if Territory proceeds with its acquisition
proposal, tentatively scheduled for July 16.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Singapore's Straits Times Index Rises; SingTel, Oversea-Chinese Bank Gain

(Bloomberg) -- Singapore's benchmark stock index, the
Straits Times Index, rose 0.11 percent at 9:05 a.m.

The index of 49 companies traded on the Stock Exchange of
Singapore rose 3.82 to 3,552.02. Among the stocks in the index,
20 rose, 12 fell and 17 were unchanged.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Exxon Mobil Shuts Some Units at Its Refinery in Singapore for Maintenance

(Bloomberg) -- Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's
largest publicly traded oil company, shut ``several operating
units'' for planned maintenance at its 605,000 barrels-a-day
Singapore refinery.

Repairs to units at the Jurong site started today, and will
continue for about seven weeks, the company said in an e-mailed
statement. The shutdown will allow engineers to inspect
equipment normally in continuous operation, as well as to
install ``facility improvement projects,'' the company said.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Platinum Futures Traded in Tokyo Decline as Yen Rallies for a Third Day

(Bloomberg) -- Platinum futures fell in Tokyo and
headed for the biggest two-day decline in more than three months
as the yen climbed for a third day against the dollar.

The yen appreciated to 122.89 per dollar at 11:46 a.m. in
Singapore from 123.26 late in New York yesterday, after reaching
a 4 1/2-year low of 124.13 on June 22. An appreciating Japanese
currency erodes the value of yen-denominated contracts for
commodities such as platinum, which trades globally in dollars.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

UPDATE 1-Reuters Summit-CapitaLand to grow financial svcs arm

(Reuters) - The group's assets under management would hit S$17-18
billion by the end of the year -- up from about S$14 billion
now, Chief Executive Liew Mun Leong said on Monday.




"Our financial services make up less than 10 percent now
but I would like our fund fees to be about 15-20 percent of our
EBIT ," Liew told the Reuters
Real Estate Summit in Singapore.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Asian Aframax Shipping Rate May Rise a Second Week on Lower Vessel Supply

(Bloomberg) -- The cost of shipping 80,000 metric
tons of oil on Asian routes may gain after rising the most in 12
weeks as increased cargo from the Middle East reduced the supply
of vessels.

The rate of shipping crude or fuel oil on so-called Aframax
tankers to Singapore from Kuwait climbed for a fourth day,
increasing 1.4 percent to Worldscale 153.65 on June 22,
according to the London-based Baltic Exchange. The rate rose 6
percent in the five days ended June 22, the second straight week
of gains.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Korea Western Power Scraps Plan to Buy 30,000 Tons of Fuel Oil for July

(Bloomberg) -- Korea Western Power Co., one of the
six generating units of Korea Electric Power Corp., scrapped a
plan to buy 30,000 metric tons of fuel oil for July delivery,
according to its Web site.

Asian benchmark 180-centistoke fuel oil for immediate
delivery in Singapore rose to a record of $366.50 a ton on June
15 because of reduced availability of the ship fuel in Singapore,
the world's largest bunker port.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Indonesia's Listrik Negara Hires UBS for Planned $1 Billion Bond Sale

(Bloomberg) -- PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara,
Indonesia's state utility, hired UBS AG to help it raise about $1
billion selling bonds, President Director Eddie Widiono said.

The company plans to meet investors in Hong Kong, Singapore,
London and Los Angeles from tomorrow till June 20 to promote the
debt sale, according to an e-mail sent to investors today.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

China Aviation Oil Names New Managers to Run Company, Disbands Task Force

(Bloomberg) -- China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corp.,
which sought protection from creditors in 2004 after a trading
scandal, appointed new managers to run the company.

The jet-fuel supplier named Zhang Zhenqi as executive
director and general manager of a group called the ``Senior
Officers Meeting,'' the company said in a filing to the Singapore
Exchange today. Zhang was formerly deputy head of a task force
set up in November 2004 to restructure the company after it
revealed $550 million in losses caused by bad bets on oil prices.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

China Aviation Oil's Shares Extend Gains in Singapore on Acquisition Talk

(Bloomberg) -- Shares of China Aviation Oil
(Singapore) Corp. surged for a second day on speculation the
company will announce asset acquisitions.

The jet-fuel trader's shares rose 8.4 percent, or 19 cents,
to S$2.44 at 10:25 a.m. local time, and were headed for a record
close. The stock gained as much as 10.2 percent today following
yesterday's 16 percent advance.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News